# guess

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɡɛs/ · frequency rank #694

## Definitions
1. To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
2. To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
3. To suppose, to imagine (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
4. To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".
5. To hit upon or reproduce by memory.

## Etymology
From Middle English gessen (verb) and Middle English gesse (noun), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitisōną (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take, seize”).
Cognate with Danish gisne (“to guess”), Norwegian gissa, gjette (“to guess”), Swedish gissa (“to guess”), Saterland Frisian gisje (“to guess”), Dutch gissen (“to guess”), Low German gissen (“to guess”), Dutch gis (“a guess”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitiskōną). Compare also Russian гада́ть (gadátʹ, “to conjecture, guess, divine”), Albanian gjëzë (“riddle”) from gjej (“find, recover, obtain”). More at get.

## Easily confused with
- **Gus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gus)
- **guys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guys)
- **guns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guns)
- **guts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guts)
- **gums** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gums)
- **gust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gust)
- **gush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gush)
- **guest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guest)
- **guise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guise)
- **gusts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gusts)
- **gulls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gulls)
- **gurus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gurus)
- **gutsy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gutsy)
- **guests** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guests)
- **guessed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guessed)
- **guesses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-guesses)
- **gutless** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/guess-vs-gutless)
- **gets** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gets-vs-guess)
- **goes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/goes-vs-guess)
- **gels** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gels-vs-guess)

## Common misspellings (5)
`geuss`, `gguess`, `gues`, `guses`, `ugess`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/guess